It's Not a Dream
by Pascall
Summary: Usagi was just a normal twenty-something, until she wasn't. Now there's a talking cat telling her she's a magical girl and she needs to save Tokyo. Wow, she must've eaten something funky to be having this wacky dream. Title subject to change.


**First, I don't usually write in first person POV, so I apologise if I flubbed it.**

 **Second, I have always wanted to write a first season AU of Sailor Moon, only with the character being older. Usagi and gang have had to deal with some pretty heavy issues, I just wondered what would happen if they had the maturity and more life experience to deal with them differently.**

 **Thirdly, I have another Sailor Moon story that I've written, on the Shitennou and them reuniting with the Senshi. It's only four chapters long, one for each guy, go check it out! It's called Finding Home. (Shameless self-promotion)**

 **Fourthly, Sailor Moon characters and storylines do not belong to me, they are the work of the brilliant Naoko Takeuchi. I am merely taking them out for a spin.**

* * *

 _I was running. I don't know where to or who from, but I felt my legs burn with the strain of running in heels. My long, flowing, almost white dress fluttered around me, like liquid made into cloth. It shone like silver or platnum and was light as a feather._

 _My hand was held tightly in someone's grip. He was tall, in blue, silver and black armour, and a black, red lined cape. Only it didn't clank when he ran in front of me, his sword held out in front of him._

 _He turned back to face me, his dark blue eyes shining in the dull light, his black hair falling into them. He was a very handsome man, but worry lay in his eyes and when he caught mine he smiled with confidence. Or he at least tried._

 _I felt completely at ease with him. His presence soothed me. Even though I knew we where in trouble, if he was with me, I would be okay._ _Danger was irrelevant with my prince around._

 _There was a sudden explosion and my vision was filled with white light, and a pain filled my heart._

 _The hand in mine went limp and I fell to my knees._

 _"Endymion!" I screamed. Over and over._

 _"Serenity," the man was laying on his back, his head on my lap and he was talking but all I could hear was white noise._

 _There was a pool of blood under us and it grew bigger with every second._

 _A tall, red haired woman was laughing and taunting me, a great big shadow looming behind her, but again I heard nothing. The prince, Endymion, died in my arms and I sobbed._ _And I screamed. I wanted to die, too._

 _My white dress was stained red from the knees down and I_ _didn't care because he was gone and nothing else mattered._

 _My hands reached for his fallen sword, I picked it up and held it out in front of me before plunging it into my breast. I was dead before I fell forward onto my departed love._

* * *

I woke up in bed, grasping for breath, a phantom pain in my chest, covered in sweat and my blanket tangled around my legs.

My alarm was blaring around my room and it took me a minute to figure out where I was.

My eyes fell on my alarm clock. 8 o'clock! It was eight? That was my alarm telling me it was time to leave not my wake up alarm. There was a missed alarm from an hour and a half before.

"Oh shit, I'm gonna be so late!"

I jumped out of bed and without showering, stipped from my pyjamas and threw on the first pair of jeans and shirt combo I found. Within twenty minutes, I was out the door and running, piece of toast in my mouth and not a drop of caffeine in sight. I would have to get myself a very large mocha latte after my first class, with extra chocolate!

My name is Tsukino Usagi, I'm 21 years old and I've just started my last year in nursing school. I'm a bit of a clutz and kind of lazy and I won't admit it but I'm also a crybaby, but I'm happy and kind and I think I'm a good person. I like to help people, I like knowing that it's because of something little old me has done that has brightened someones day or lightened their burden. I like to make a difference.

I live in a small apartment near my university, in Tokyo. It's nothing fancy, if I want an actual bath and not a quick shower or a real home cooked meal and not just a reheated one, take away or cup ramen, I have to go out to Juuban and visit my parents. Plus laundry has to be done in a public laundry mat or again I have to visit my parents, but it's mine and I love it. If it weren't for the fact that I would have to travel on public transport for over an hour every morning and night if I lived at home, I would still be there, though. It would be cheaper, but my parents are really supportive. They're the best.

I was running really late this morning, a habit I thought I broke in high school, but since my 21st birthday last year, I had been having these really vivid dreams at least once a week. The one I had been having this morning when my alarm went off was about a couple, they were in love, but it was forbidden. It ended in tragedy, the lovers dying in eachother's arms during a huge battle and for some reason, it made my heart break.

I was just about to enter the building were my first class of the day was -chemistry, my least favourite class- when I tripped and fell flat on my face.

I'm clumsy, so I'm not unacquainted with the floor, but usually I can make the dash from one place to another fairly well.

The reason I tripped was a small cat, curled up on the foot path. She was a beautiful black cat, rather small, I almost mistook it for a kitten, and had what looked like bandaids stuck to her forehead.

"Oh, poor kitty," I sighed, when the little thing tried to remove the bandaids with her paws. "Here." Then I proceeded to take them off.

"A crescent shaped bald spot?" Underneath the bandaids was a crescent moon shape, it didn't look like a bald spot, but what else could it be? "That's weird."

"Meow," hissed the cat, scratching out and just swipping my nose, thankfully not drawing any blood. She darted off into the bushed.

"Fine, ungrateful demon cat, ow!" I spat in the direction the feline ran off in, rubbing my nose. "Damnit, I don't have time for this, I'm late!"

Aside from being half an hour late to a lecture and having to borrow notes off one of my classmates, the rest of my day was fine. I did get the results on a bio test from last week, but a weird dream had given me a rather bad night's sleep and so I only got a 68, just scrapping though with a C. It was higher than I hoped for though, so who am I to complain? Especially since I fell asleep and only completed two thirds of the test.

After my last class, I met up with my best friend from high school Naru, who was studying business. We made it a habit to have a meal together at least once every other week, so we didn't lose touch with each other.

It was great having a late luch and catching up with her, and when I told her about my crappy morning and bad test score, she told me to stop by her mother's store as there was a huge sale and maybe a cheap present to myself might cheer me up.

Naru was prepareing to take over her mother's jewerlly shop. We stopped into OSA-P on the way to home, it was still early and I had my hours at the hospital to still do yet.

Naru's mother really was having an outrageous sale, it made me wish I hadn't spent the last of my monthly stripend that my parents provided on that trashy romance novel and I didn't get paid from my part-time job for another week and a half. Oh well, guess there will be no pretty, new necklace for me. The only cash I still had was for food and I do not sacrifice food for anything!

I passed by a newspaper stand on my way to the hospital and saw the front page of at least three major Tokyo papers covering stories on the mysterious Sailor V, a small note on a company that was loosing stock because its CEO, Kitagawa Daichi, was missing and a minor story on a ransacked jewerlly store preformed by a guy in a tuxedo. I wondered if that was why Mrs Osaka was selling all her jewellery for cheap. Better sold for cheap than stolen, I supposed. I hope Naru will be okay.

My mood cheered up by the time I arrived at the University of Tokyo Hospital. This week, my hours were in the maternity ward, my favourite, since I was planning to go into midwifery. And the babies are just so cute!

"Evening, Usagi-chan," my friend, Nakamura Yasu said. He was a midwife (the only male midwife I'd ever met) and probably the most effeminate looking man I had knew, but I didn't think he was gay anything. He was only a few years older than me, at 24, and only been a midwife for a year or two.

"Yasu-kun hey, how was your weekend?" I said, smiling brightly at him and getting my uniform from my pigeonhole, before stripping off my shirt and slipping the scrubs over my camisole. "Did you end up going up to see your sister?" I slipped my shoes and jeans off and pulled the pants up, before putting my shoes back on.

"Yeah," Yasu said, "My sister, Rirī, would never forgive me if I missed her enagement party. She's been working really hard on planning it." He pulled his reasonably long, wavy hair into a pony tail, while I fixed my buns.

"So Usagi-chan, did you see that new med-student that's been doing hours in paediatrics?" Yasu asked me, referring to the last year med-students who do small shifts here. Yasu was a shameless gossip. " I headd he was hot and just your type. Tall, dark and handsome."

"No," I answered. While I haven't seen this new doctor yet, I had heard he was very attractive and who was I to turn down a little eye candy?

"Hmph, you're missing out," he scoughed, rolling his eyes and turning his head, making his hair swing around him an an arch of strawberry blonde. I laughed at his over the top response.

While Yasu was at the start of a 12 hour shift, I only had to stay for a third of that time, so when I left the hospital four hours later, my feet hurting and stomach grumbling, I didn't want to imagine how he would feel when his shift finally ended.

Still, I was riding on a buzz. I had gotten to help with a birth. And by help, I mean watch from the sidelines, but it would still be the event of my week. Or so I thought...

I stopped in at a fastfood place on the way to my apartment, too tired and hungry to care about the nutritional value (which I cared more about now than I did in high school since I have been taking classes specifially targeted at nutrition).

I was in rare form today, since ten minutes later on the way home, I ran into a solid wall. Or at least what I thought had been a solid wall but had instead been a really good looking guy.

I had stopped by Naru's, since she called me earlier saying she had accidently take my psychology text book and that I had one of her many maths course text books. She must be mad to voluntarily take that many maths classes. I stopped by to trade ours and was just on leaving the front of OSA-P, where Naru lived in the apartment over it, when I bumped into the guy.

"Watch it, Odango Atama," he snapped at me, his disposable coffee cup falling to the floor, black coffee spilling out, across the foot path.

My tote slipped off my shoulder, some papers flying about the ground and several books and pens tumbling out. I hurried to pick them all up, not noticing my poorly done biology test flying away and landing just behind the cute, but rude guy.

"I'm so sorry," I muttered, "Let me get you another one?" I nodded in the direction of the coffee shop just down the block.

"Don't bother," he said, wiping some blotches that had started to show up on his shirt with a napkin. "I really shouldn't be drinking caffeine so close to bedtime, anyway." He finally looked up at me then and I saw his black hair falling into his dark blue eyes. "I know you from somewhere," he frowns.

"Um- Tokyo University, maybe," I muttered. "Or their hospital, I'm a nursing student?"

"No, it's not there." He stared at me and I blushed. He was really cute and somehow really familiar. I just couldn't place him.

"Oh," I said, dejected. "May-maybe you have me mistaken for someone then. Perhaps that idol, Aino Minako, I've been told I look at bit like her. You know, j-just with a different hair colour." I pointed to my pale blonde, almost white, hair.

"No," he said again, still frowning. "Besides, I don't even know who Aino Minako is."

"Oh, well, I've lived in Tokyo my whole life, I don't know..." I trailed off, I didn't know why I was telling this random guy my life's story. I was so sure my cheeks were bright red. His stare was making me really anxious, like he could see right through my soul.

"No," he muttered again and I started to grow exasperated with him.

"Oh, well, sorry again for spilling your coffee. I um- I have to go, before my dinner gets cold." I held up my brown paper bag. "I have a quiz tomorrow in ananatomy- I-I mean anatomy and I'd like to do a little revision before bed, but I guess I'll see you around."

"Nice to meet you, Odango Atama." He nodded, smirking before turning and walking in the opposite direction.

"They're buns, it's a hairstyle!" I snapped, squeezing the twin buns on my head. I went to walk away then, or more like stomp.

"Ah Odango-san?" I turned to face the rude guy to see him holding my biology test. "I think this is yours." He held it out to me.

"Thanks," I muttered and shoved it in my pocket.

"You really should study more," he said, somewhat arrogantly. "68 really isn't a good mark for someone hoping to be a nurse. People are going to be relying on you to help make them better. No wonder you're going home to revise now."

My mouth dropped. Someone so cute was a complete jerk! It just wasn't fair.

I snapped my mouth shut and glared at him. His eyes widened at seeing my look. For such a tiny person, I've been told my glares are on point. I huffed and turned away before he could say anything else. Then realised my bag had slipped off and I just left it on the ground.

He was still staring at me. I stared right back while crouching down to get my bag.

"Humph," I huffed, turning away, my long hair flying about as I stomped down the street.

Still, I couldn't wait to tell Yasu, who was my main source of gossip, that I'd talked to a really cute guy when I saw him again. Even if I'm only going to be telling him what an arsehole the guy was. And to tell him what a fool of myself I made.

 _Why was my heart beating like this, though?_

"And what the heck was up with his ugly-arse jacket? What a jerk!"

* * *

By the time I arrived home, my food was cold, but I didn't care, since I hadn't eaten since a late lunch with Naru at 2pm and it was now nearing eight. A quick zap in the microwave and it's as good as new. Well, not really, but I was too tired to care. I scoffed my burger down and was munching on my fries as I read a passage over in my anatomy book and listened to a voice mail mama had left for me while I was at the hospital.

An hour and a half later and my brain felt like mush and I really needed a shower, so I packed up my books and pens and made my way to the small bathroom, dropping my clothes on the floor as I go. I emerged from the bathroon, stream surrounding me fifteen minutes later, dressed in my bunny-covered pyjama shorts and a tank top. I was just running a brush through my classic lenght hair as I entered my room. I dove for my bed, and was asleep within minutes.

 _He held my hand tightly. It didn't hurt, his fingers making me feel safe. We were running though an open area and it smelt of roses. Or he smelt of roses. He was dressed in blue and black armour and held a sword out in front of him. As always, his face remained the same._

 _Suddenly, he turned into a tall, dark haired man, dressed in a dinner suit or a tuxedo, with a domino mask covering his eyes. I saw the colour t_ _hough, a dark blue. A beautiful, cobolt blue. So maybe it was the same guy, just not wearing his armour?_ _They had the same eyes, after all._

 _Then suddenly Sailor V appeared, and that cat with the crescent mark on its head was dangling in a cage while Sailor V fought the tuxedo guy. All the while I watched from the side, dressed in the same long white gown._

 _The clanging of the swords covered a whisper in the air. With every bang or snap, I heard a word. A name._

" _Remember._ "

 _Sailor V changed clothes and was now in orange and blue instead of red and blue. Even the mask changed from red to orange, the only thing remaining unchanged was the big red bow in her long, golden hair._ _Almost as long as mine._

" _Remember," the voice repeated._

 _The cat meowed loudly._ _The tuxedo clad guy was now the cute, rude guy dressed in his coffee covered, horrible green jacket and he was waving my biology test at Sailor V, who was running towards a huge white castle, screaming for a princess._

" _Remember my name. Endymion. Serenity. Endymion. Serenity._ " _cute-rude-san looked right at me, in my long ball gown while saying this._

" _Endymion!_ _" I screamed._

I shot up in bed, holding my nose, wearing my bunny covered pjs. The cat from earlier was sitting on my windowsill.

How did she climb up three flights of stairs and get through two locked doors?

"I've been looking for you, Usagi!"

The cat spoke? I must still be dreaming.

"My name is Luna and you are not an easy girl to find, but now that I have you, there is very little time to waste."

It was still talking.

Oh well, it _was_ a dream, why not play along?

"Time to waste?" I asked.

"Yes you see, you Usagi are a senshi. A chosen guardian, to help look for the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou and protect the Moon Princess."

I yawned, for some reason, this dream was making me more tired.

"Chosen guardian? Princess? I don't think so." I shook my head and flopped back onto my pillow. "I'm going back to bed. I'm too old to dream about becoming a magical girl."

Out of all the freaky dreams I have been having lately, this is by far the weirdest.

"Usagi," Luna said. "You took those awful bandaids off me. While they were on I was not able to talk or use my powers, once they were removed, I recognised you immediately. You are a Sailor Senshi and I need your help."

That burger I ate must have been bad, because this dream was one hell of a trip.

"Goodnight, neko-chan," I said, flopping back onto my bed, again.

"Usagi get up!" Luna hissed, "You are not dreaming!"

 _I am totally dreaming!_

I have a present for you."

"Fine," I pouted, "I'll play along with this dream, but it better not make me sleep in, I was late to chem this morning!"

"It's not a dream. An evil force has setted over Tokyo, you must defeat it!" Luna did a strange little flip in mid air, making her tiny cat body land on the foot of my bed. A golden brooch appeared out of nowhere and landed on my comforter.

"Ooh," I cooed, picking it up. "It's so pretty!" The brooch stared to glow.

"Luna, its glowing!" I was freaking out!

"This is your transformation pin, you must hold it above your head and say ' _Moon Prism Power, Make Up!'_."

"Like this; 'Moon Prism Power, make-up'?" I was so confused, but I held up the brooch nonetheless. This dream really was the craziest I'd ever had.

Then suddenly the brooch started to glow brighter and dancing lights filled the air. Ribbons of fabric covered me and a second later I was standing in my bedroom dressed in a very, very short skirt.

"What the hell am I wearing?" This dream was mental!

"This is your uniform, you must defeat the enemy and find you allies." Luna was nervously pacing on my sheets.

"You expect me to save the city in a sailor fuku?" I asked, sarcastically. "I haven't worn a sailor fuku since high school!"

I wondered over to look at myself in the mirror.

I was wearing a white leotard, with a blue sailor collar and a big pink bow, where the brooch sat, a very short blue skirt and knee high pink boots and on my bottom, another big, bright, pink bow. Over my eyes was a white mask and my arms were covered with elbow length gloves. And was that a tiara on my head?

And my hair, well my hair was the same as it was a few hours ago. It was up in two pig-tails with small buns on top. Althought the clips were new.

"I look ridiculous," I groaned.

Then suddenly I heard a voice echoing in my ears. It was Naru's voice and she sounded terrified.

 _"Help me! Please, someone help me! My mom is..."_

"Is that Naru?" I asked, my vision suddenly filled with the view of my best friend being attacked by her mother.

"Yes, and you need to save her."

This dream suddenly turned into a nightmare!

"How?" I asked. "How do I save her, Luna? I just thought this was a dream."

"Do you trust me yet?" Luna asked.

"I don't know, but I can see it all happen. I have to help her."

Naru's mother suddenly turned into a monster.

 _"My mom's going to kill me, help!"_

 _"I'm not your mother, she's trapped in the basement, starving to death! Hahaha!"_

"Luna, what do I do?"

"Follow me."

I spent the next few minutes leaping over the roof tops of building like they were nothing.

I pushed the doors of Osa-P open and walked inside, the moonlight shining behind me.

"I can't let you live now that you know my secret," the youma hissed as I arrived at Naru's mother's store.

"Get you filthy claws off Naru-chan, demon!"

The monster turned to face me.

"Who the hell are you?" The youma asked, turning to face me. In that moment, I had to fight the urge to scream.

The skin of the youma was a redish-grey and its facial features were sunken. Its eyes were a glowing orange and it honestly, it scared the shit out of me!

"Um," I paused, not really in fear, even if I was shaking in my pink boots. "I'm Sailor... Moon?"

"Is that a question?" The youma snapped.

That's when I took a big breath, time to put your big girl panties on, I thought. It doesn't matter if this is real or a dream, Naru is in trouble and there is a demon infront of me. How can I consider myself a good person if I won't fight for those who can't?

"I'm the pretty sailor suites solder of love and justice, Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

"Never heard of you," the youma said. "And you don't scare me." It the held up a hand, which was holding a glowing, red cylinder. "Awaken, minions. Time to serve our Great Leader."

A window smashed to my left as a person jumped through the glass. They got up as if it was nothing. Before I could ask of they were alright, more people flooded the shop, their eyes glowing red in the darkness.

"Attack that girl!"

One of the women lept forward at me and I barely dodged, landing on my stomach and my knees scraping on the glass covered floor.

"This isn't a dream," I suddenly realised, because my knee hurt. I was bleeding. Dreams aren't suppose to hurt. "Oh no, I thought this was a dream. What am I gonna do? Lunaaaaa!"

I jumped up and ran around the counter to get away from the crazy, red-eyed mob out to get me, screaming my head off.

"What are you doing, Sailor Moon?" Luna asked, watching my run around. "You need to kick that youma's butt."

"Kick it's butt? How? I'm just a university student!"

I was cornered!

"I wanna go home!" I yelled. "I don't wanna d ok this anymore. I wanna go HOMEEEE!"

As I yelled and cried, the rest of the windows and the unbroken cabnets shattered.

 _Was I doing that?_

The crowd dropped, holding their ears and the youma yelled for me to stop.

 _Apparently I was doing that._

"Ultra-sonic waves, they're defining!"

 _Ultra-sonic waves? I could make ultra-sonic waves. Oh, my God, I really was a magical girl!_

A deep voice cut though my tears and fear.

"Stop crying, Sailor Moon. You can do this."

I looked up, suddenly not crying anymore. Who said that? I saw a dark silhouette on the balcony, a man? In a cape? His voice sent waves of calm over me.

"Now Sailor Moon!" Luna said next to me. "She's weak, finish her."

"That's a she?" I asked, my shock wearing off.

"Not important," Luna snapped, impatiently. "Your tiara, throw it and say 'moon tiar boomerang'."

I reached up and removed the tiara, it turned into a disk in front of my eyes.

"MOON TIARA BOOMERANG!" I flung it with all my might, and it struck true. The youma split in half, before crumbling into dust.

"I did it!" I couldn't believe it.

"Well done Usagi-chan," Luna said, and I swear she was smiling at me. If cats could smile.

"Well," the same deep voice said from before, and I looked up, finding a man standing in a window. He was dressed in a tuxedo, complete with top hat and cape. A domino mask obscured his identity. "I didn't find the Maboroshi no Ginzuisho, but I got to witness something incredible."

And he turned, his cape flying out and he jumped out the window.

I ran to the door, hoping to catch him, my cheeks flushed pink.

"I will remember you, Sailor Moon." He said, leaping off a light post his red lined cape flying open in the breeze. "You can call me Tuxedo Kamen."

Then he was gone.

* * *

"And just as I was being attacked, I passed out. But before I did, a sailor senshi came to my rescue!"

It was lunch the next day and I was on my way to meet up with Naru. I wanted to check if she was alright. Naru was just around the corner telling some of her other friends about the night before.

I groaned and sunk back into the wall, hidden from Naru's view.

"Are you okay, Usagi-chan?" Luna asked, her head popped out of my bag.

I just clenched my teeth and groaned again, I felt my eye developing a tick.

 _So it wasn't a dream after all?_

 _Damn!_

 _If this was just the beginning, what else did I have to look forward to?_

* * *

 **I know its pretty much the opening to Sailor Moon from every media version, but it's classic! Drop me a review and let me know how everyone liked it! Or didn't like it. Constructive criticism and all that.**

 **Usagi has proven in canon, when the senshi had to do the high school entry test and she would be separated from them if she did badly, that she can study and is quite smart if she wants to be, as she ended up doing pretty well in that test. Besides, we all knew she was just being lazy with her not studying, a bad habit I decided she grows out of. She's still going to be goofy and clumsy and I hope I keep the traits that make her Usagi.**

 **I want to focus this story closer to the manga/crystal, but I'm not opposed to adding elements from the live action or the 90's anime. One particular storyline I like is Dark Mercury, I would love to add that if I can. Or maybe the rainbow crystals? But definitely more Usamamo stuff. I love Usagi x Mamoru!**

 **Anyway, leave me a review and let me know what you think. Reviews really do make me write faster.**


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